American Handgunner March/April 2013 Digital Edition - Page 22

THE AYOOBFILES MAssAD AyooB Dueling Rifles: The BRenT smiTh inciDenT Situation: A man ready to die wants to take some other people with him. He opens fire on his girlfriend — and the police — with a high-powered rifle. leSSon: When the bad guy has a rifle, it’s a good idea for you to have one too … the aftermath may be different from what you expect … and modern tools for containing fast-moving gunmen go beyond the gun. Sunday afternoon, Nov. 9, 2008 in Mequon, Wis. A woman walks into Mequon Police headquarters to report a frightening incident. It’s her live-in boyfriend, Ryan Carey, she explains. He has problems with drugs and alcohol and behavior control. The situation has been escalating, and she has become so scared of him she has dropped her kids off with her estranged husband. Today, she asked him to leave the house. He refused, and things became uglier. She went for the phone to call the police, and he physically attacked her. She shows the shift sergeant where she has been punched, bitten, and kicked. And then, she says, he went into the bedroom. She saw him loading some kind of a long gun. She ran from the house and jumped into her car. As she drove away from her own home in terror, he emerged from the house, firing. He shot at her twice. A quiet Sunday afternoon in Mequon — population about 24,000, with a police department of 3-dozen sworn officers and a dozen non-sworn employees — will be quiet no more. Officers Respond Four 1-officer patrol cars are dispatched to the location. The responding officers are Jason Moertl, Corey Polishinski, Mandie Rudolph and Brent Smith. Smith, whose patrol has just taken him past the subdivision where the shooting occurred, is the closest of the four. When he hears a call signal coming out to him and three other squad cars simultaneously, the first thought in his mind is, “This can’t be good.” Dispatch says over the radio, “A subject came into the lobby and reports she had been involved in an argument with another resident of the house who shot at her when she drove away.” Smith reaches over and unlocks the issue patrol rifle, a Colt AR-15 A3, and sets it on his squad bag in the front seat for faster access. Then, he reaches for the microphone. Talking car to car, he and the other responding Mequon officers quickly plot their strategy. They will stage at the entrance to the subdivision, and plan their approach. Officer Moertl has a map book in his car. It seems to show the target address at the West end of the subdivision. Moertl and Polishinski, it is quickly agreed, will approach from the south side of the subdivision, while Rudolph and Smith will come in from the north. All four squad cars roll out, with Rudolph’s ahead of Smith’s on the northern approach. Rudolph and Smith in separate patrol cars are nearing the turn that will take them into the west side of the subdivision when they find out the danger is not exactly where the map appeared to show it. Brent Smith hears the blast of a high-powered weapon, and what sounds like something striking metal, and instantly knows he and his sister officer are under fire. Everything starts to go into slow motion for Officer Smith. He pulls over quickly, slamming the gearshift into park before the patrol car has stopped moving, and grabs his AR-15, charging a round into the chamber as he bails from the vehicle. He sees a muzzle flash — though he does not hear the gunshot — and from the angle of the flash realizes he’s being fired at from behind a corner of a nearby house. He sprints toward what appears to be the closest cover — the other side of the same house. The ambusher shoots at him again … and misses. Smith gains the cover of the other side of the house, and begins moving to the rear to outflank his deadly attacker. Continued on page 80 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • MARCH/APRIL2013 Ambush! 22